At first glance, Moorefield could be any other small town in Appalachia. With a population of nearly 2,500, Moorefield looks like a sleepy community tucked in the mountain valleys of Hardy County along the Potomac River.
Yet, in the center of downtown sits a poultry processing plant operated by Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, one of the largest chicken producers in the United States, that employs nearly 1,000 people. The diversity of the plant’s workers has begun redefining the surrounding community.
The industry heavily influences the entire state. Nearly half of all agriculture sales in West Virginia are for poultry products, like chicken, turkey and eggs. In 2016 alone, this yielded $317 million in revenue. In contrast, all other meat production in the state, such as cattle, hogs and other livestock, generated little more than $170 million.
“While it is often associated with extractive industries, West Virginia is also a poultry state, and Moorefield is its ‘poultry capital,’” said Cynthia Gorman, an assistant professor of geography who has been studying the community since 2018 with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council, the WVU Humanities Center and the One Foundation.
“While it is often associated with extractive industries, West Virginia is also a poultry state, and Moorefield is its ‘poultry capital.’”
– Cynthia Gorman, Assistant Professor of Geography
Since the late 1990s to early 2000s, the poultry plant has attracted an increasing number of employees from outside of Moorefield to staff its operations, including some who have immigrated from around the world for work or who have fled their home countries as refugees.
Today there is a diverse range of languages spoken in the Moorefield community, including Arabic, Burmese, Spanish, the Mayan indigenous languages of Mam and Achi, Haitian Creole, Ethiopian Amharic and the Eritrean languages of Tigrayan and Tigrai.
An expert in immigration law and policy, Gorman is currently studying the experience of immigrants in places like Moorefield and how belonging and community are negotiated where they are settling to work. She and her research team are now conducting surveys, interviews and focus groups with immigrant and refugee residents in Moorefield to understand their experiences.
In spring 2020, Gorman received additional funding from the National Geographic Society for the project, which will support translation services so she can conduct interviews with workers in their first language.
At the core of the project is understanding what enables or limits the process of mutual integration, or working together as a community in the best interests of all residents.
“Studies of immigration and policies tend to be based on the assumption of assimilation, or the expectation that immigrants and refugees who have come to the U.S. must shed their differences and become more ‘American,’” Gorman said. “That assumption is also often defined by white, Christian, middle class norms. The concept of mutual integration is different; it calls attention to how the communities can develop the capacity to be welcoming and inclusive, a process which includes valuing difference and diversity.”
One of the challenges to mutual integration that Gorman has observed is the way work schedules, such as a concentration in the night shift, can limit interaction and engagement between newcomers and non-immigrant residents, in addition to a lack of key services such as translators. On the other hand, schools and teachers have played a leading role in building bridges and fostering welcoming relationships.
Gorman was initially drawn to Moorefield to study the process of disintegration. In 2018 she initiated a project to study effects of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at the plant in 2008. The raid shocked individuals connected to the immigrant community, creating food, income and housing insecurities as husbands and fathers were arrested and detained.
“The raid was very upsetting and jarring for resident bystanders who witnessed the violent and distinctly gendered impact on families and children,” Gorman said. “This spurred some non-immigrant residents into action in support of the immigrant community and seemed to forge new kinds of relationships, some of which challenged the very premise of the raid. Many residents felt these workers belonged in Moorefield and should not have been detained or deported.”
The raid in 2008 coincided with an increased effort by the company over the past decade to recruit refugees to work at the plant.
“I suspect that this was not coincidental because it has been a trend in the meatpacking industry across the U.S.,” Gorman said. “Workplace raids have encouraged many employers to seek refugee workers because they have legal status. Refugees must become economically self-sufficient within a very short period of time after arriving in the U.S., so these types of jobs, which typically pay above minimum wage and come with benefits, are appealing.”
Since beginning the study, Gorman has an observed an initial transformation in the community.
“Some people who held anti-immigrant sentiments have, through firsthand experiences with the immigrant community and witnessing the trauma of the raid, had a 180-degree transformation. Some ended up advocating for and taking pretty substantial risks to support immigrant families, friends, neighbors and coworkers,” Gorman said. “That's been a really powerful thing to hear.”
However, there is still much to be done to counter xenophobia and racism and to build meaningful connections. Gorman will learn from the work of existing bridge-builders in the community and by focusing on the experiences of refugees and immigrants and identifying other aspects of community life that could benefit from continued engagement and collective problem-solving.
“Immigration is part of our past, present and even future in West Virginia,” Gorman said. “I hope this work advances critical conversations about how we can create more just and equitable communities in the Mountain State.”